“now,” said marjory, at last disengaging herself from me, “let us get down to business. we’ve got to find the treasure, you know!” so we set ourselves down to a systematic search.
we explored one after another all the caves leading out of the main cavern. some of them were narrow and tortuous; some were wide and low with roof dropping down, down, until it was impossible for anything in the shape of humanity to pass. all these, however, with one exception, ended in those fissure-like clefts, running somewhere to a point, which characterise cavern formations. the exception was at the north west side of the cavern where a high, fairly wide passage extended, with an even floor as though it too had been levelled by rolling pebbles. it kept on straight for a good length, and then curved round gently to the right, all the while fairly maintaining its proportions. presently it grew so high that it was like a narrow way between tall houses. i lit a white light, and in the searching glare noticed that far overhead the rocky walls leaned together till they touched. this spot, just above us, was evidently the highest point; the roof thence fell rapidly till at last it was only some ten feet high. a little further on it came to a sudden end.
here there was a great piled-up mass of huge, sharp-edged rocks, at the base of which were stones of all[286] sizes, some round and some jagged. scattered near and isolated were many stones rounded by constant friction.
as i looked, the whole circumstances seemed to come to me. “see,” i cried to marjory, “this was evidently another entrance to the cave. the tides, ebbing or flowing, drove in through one way and out at the other; and the floor was worn level in process of countless years by rolling pebbles like these. then came some upheaval or wearing away by water drift of supporting walls of rock; and this mouth of the cave fell in. we must be by now somewhere at the cruden side of whinnyfold; we are facing almost due north.”
as there was manifestly nothing to be done here, we took our way back to the main cavern. when we began to look around us for a new place to explore, marjory said:
“there doesn’t seem to be any treasure cave at all here. we have now tried everywhere.” then it was that my mind went back again to the don’s description “black on the one hand and red on the other.” “come,” i said, “let us go back till we find the joining of the gneiss and granite.” as we went back the floor was almost dry; only a few pools of water here and there, lying in the depressions, called attention to the fact that we were under tidal influence. as we went we kept a careful look-out for the fusion of the rocks; and found it where the passage with the descending roof debouched into that which led from the blocked up entrance of the cave. there was here, however, no sign of another passage, and the main one outside was like that under my own house, entirely through the gneiss.
i could not help feeling a little disappointed. for many weeks my mind had been set on finding the pope’s treasure; and though i believe it was not greed which controlled me even to any great extent, i was deeply[287] chagrined. i had a sort of unworthy fear that it might lower me in the eyes of marjory. this feeling, however, was only momentary; and when it went, it went for good. drawing in my note-book a rough outline of whinnyfold, i dotted lines where i took the various branches of the cave to lie and then marked in the line of fusion of the gneiss and the granite as it was manifest on the cliffs and on the shore beyond. marjory was at once convinced; indeed when i saw my surmise put down in black and white it seemed to me quite apparent that it must be correct. the treasure cave must be within that space which lay between the dismantled entrance on the side of the skares, and that which had fallen in on the north side. the logical inference was that if there was an entrance to be found at all it would be close to the debris from the don’s explosion. so we took in silence, our way back to that point and began at once to examine the debris for any sign of an opening in the rock to the north side. marjory scrambled up to the top of the pile whilst i explored the base. turning my lantern on the rocky wall i began to examine it foot by foot and inch by inch.
suddenly marjory cried out. i raised my head and looked at her. her face, lit by the rays of my own lamp which, with the habit of searching now familiar to me i had turned as my eyes turned, was radiant with joy and excitement.
“look! look!” she cried. “oh, archie, there is the top of an opening here. the stones fill it up.” as she spoke she pushed at a stone on the top of the pile; under her hand it moved and disappeared with a hollow rattle. by this time i had scrambled up the slippery pile and was beside her. the disappearance of the stone had enlarged the opening, and something like a foot square was discovered.
so we began to work at the heap of stones, only we[288] pulled and threw them into the cave where we were so as not to block the place we aimed at. the top layer of stones was easy to move, as they were comparatively small, and were not interlocked, but below them we found a much more difficult task. here the rocks were larger and more irregular in shape, and their points and edges interlocked. we did not mind, however, but toiled on. i could not but notice as we did so, a trait of marjory’s coolness of head in the midst of all her excitement, when she took from her pocket a pair of heavy gloves and put them on.
in some fifteen or twenty minutes we had unmasked a hole sufficiently large to pass through comfortably. i found that the oil of my lamp was running low; so i refilled it and marjory’s also. then holding my own lamp carefully, whilst marjory turned hers in the direction i was going, i passed over the top of the miniature moraine, and in a few seconds was on the floor of the other cave. marjory threw me the ball of string and scrambling down joined me at once. we went along carefully, for the roof of the cave dipped very low and we had in more than one place to bend considerably; even then we were walking in a couple of feet of water as the floor dipped as well as the roof. when we had gone some distance, however, the roof rose as the cave turned sharp to the left, round a corner of very broken and jagged rock in which i could see signs of the fusion of the two geological formations. our hearts beat high and we took hands instinctively; we were now confident that we were in the treasure house at last.
as we went up the cave, here running, so far as i could ascertain by the compass, straight in and from the sea, we could note, as we turned our lamps now and again to either side, that on our left was all black rock whilst on the right was all red. the cave was not a long one;[289] nothing to compare with those we had left. it was not very many seconds, though we had to go slow as we did not know for certain as to the floor level, before the cave began to expand.
when, however, it widened and became more lofty, the floor rose in all some three feet and we went up a sharp incline though not of very great magnitude. this dipped a little again forming a pool which spread ahead of us so far as we could see by the dim light of our bicycle lamps. as we did not know the depth i waded in, marjory enjoining me anxiously to be careful. i found it deepened very slowly; so she joined me and we went on together. by my advice, marjory kept a few feet in the rear, so that in case i should stumble or meet with a deep hole and so lose my light, hers would still be safe. i was so intent on my feet, for i feared lest marjory following so close might get into some trouble, that i hardly looked ahead, but kept cautiously on my way. marjory, who was flashing her lamp all around as she went, suddenly called out:
“look! look! there to the right, the figure of the san cristobal with the golden christ on his shoulder.”
i turned my lantern to the angles of the cave to the right to which we were now close. the two lamps gave us light enough to see well.
there, rising from the water under the shelf of rock, was the figure that benvenuto had wrought, as don bernardino had left it three centuries ago.
as i moved forwards i stumbled; in trying to save myself the lamp was shaken from my hand and fell hissing in the dark water. as it fell i saw by the flash of light the white bones of a skeleton under the san cristobal. instinctively i called out to marjory:
“stand still and take care of your lamp; i’ve dropped mine!”
[290]
“all right!” came back her answer coolly; she had quite command of herself. she turned the lamp downwards, so that we could see into the water, and i found i had stumbled against an iron box, beside which, in about two feet of water, lay my lamp. i picked this up first and shook the water from it and laid it on the shelf of rock. “wait here a moment,” i said, “i shall run back and get a torch.” for i had left the tin box on the top of the heap of debris when we had scrambled through the hole. i was starting back at once when she said after me, and in that cave the voice came after me “monotonous and hollow like a ghost’s:”
“take my lamp with you dear. how can you find the box, or even the way to it, in the dark?”
“but i can’t leave you alone here; all in the dark, too.”
“oh, i’m all right,” she answered gaily, “i don’t mind a bit! and besides it will be a new sensation to be here alone—with olgaref and the treasure. you won’t be long, will you, dear?” i felt that her query almost belied her brave words; but i knew that behind the latter lay her pride which i must not offend; so i took the lamp she was holding out to me and hurried on. in a few minutes i had found the box and brought it back; but i could see that even those minutes had been a trying time to marjory, who was deathly white. when i came close, she clung to me; after a second or two she said, as she drew herself away, looking at me diffidently as though to excuse herself, or rather to account for her perturbation:
“the moment you had gone and i was alone in the dark with the treasure, all the weird prophecying of gormala came back to me. the very darkness itself made light patches, and i saw shrouds floating everywhere. but it’s all right now that you are here. light a torch, and we shall look at the pope’s treasure.” i took a torch out of the box and lit it; she laid it so that the lighted end[291] projected well beyond the shelf of rock and gave a fine if fitful, light to all around. we found water about three feet deep at its worst; in the glare of the torch and because of its crystal purity, it did not look even so much. we stooped down to examine the box, which was only one of several lying in front of a great heap of something, all dark with rust and age, which filled up a whole corner of the cave.
the hasp was eaten through with rust, as well it might be after three centuries in the water, and only retained its form. this was doubtless due to the stillness of the water, for even the shock of my striking the box with my boot had broken it across. when i pulled at it, it crumbled to pieces in my fingers. in the same way the iron of the box itself was rusted right through; and as i tried to lift the lid which was annealed by corrosion to the sides of the box, it broke in my hands. i was able to tear it away like matchwood. the contents were not corroded, but were blackened by the sea. it was all money, but whether silver or gold we could not tell, and did not stop to see. then we opened box after box in the same way, and in all but one found coins. this took a considerable time; but we did not in our excitement note its flying. the heap in the corner was composed of great ingots, to lift any of which took a distinct effort of strength. the one box unfilled with coins contained smaller boxes or caskets which were uncorroded and were, we presumed, of some superior metal, silver or gold. they were all locked; i lifted one of them and laid it on the shelf of rock whilst i searched for a key. it was a difficult matter to find any definite thing whilst stooping in the water, so i took my knife and tried with its point to prise open the casket. the lock must have been of iron and corroded; it gave way instantly under pressure, disclosing a glittering heap of stones which, even through[292] all the cloudiness of the saline deposit of centuries, flashed red lights everywhere.
“rubies!” cried marjory who stood close to me, clapping her hands. “oh! how lovely. darling!” she added kissing me, for her expression of delight had to find a vent on something.
“next!” i said as i bent to the iron chest to lift out another of the caskets.
i drew back with a shudder; marjory looking anxiously at my face divined the cause and cried in genuine alarm:
“the tide! the tide is rising; and is shutting us in!”